A Week of Firsts with the New Camper!

It's hard to believe the day finally came to pick up our new Oliver. It seems like we were just sitting in the Oliver lot with our Casita.  Our pick up appointment was Tuesday at 8:30 so we wanted to stay nearby on Monday night so we left Lexington after lunch. With the time change we arrived at our hotel in Columbia at 4:30PM central time. We used our Bonvoy points to stay at the Columbia, Tennessee Fairfield Inn. Once checked in, we did a Walmart run for a few supplies for our overnight in our new Oliver then settled in for the evening.

With the time change, our usual early rise time & feeling like kids on Christmas morning, we were up earlier than normal.  We showered, had coffee & breakfast and still had plenty of time to get to Oliver by our appointment time.  The hotel was about 50 minutes from Oliver & we arrived just after 8AM.  After we did a quick walk through of our trailer, Hull #1713 & paid the balance we got the detailed walk through. 

Even though it is only a few years newer than our Casita the technology on this trailer is way more advanced. In preparation, we watched a ton of videos and our guy did a good job explaining all the features. Even still, we felt like our heads were going to explode with all the information. The walk through wrapped up around 11AM so we took a break for lunch. 

We stopped at Junkyard Dog Steakhouse in downtown Hohenwald for lunch. While there, we were reflecting on one of the changes they made to our trailer that involved the main cabin exhaust fan. They switched suppliers for the 2027 model but somehow it also ended up on our 2026 model. A few of the specs were different between models. One that was a big deal to us was the new fan no longer could be used when it was raining. This was an issue since the MaxFan that was supposed to be installed had no issues working in the rain. This is important because the main fan is the only way to exhaust the camper while cooking which you could likely be doing while raining.  I cooked a lot in our Casita earlier this year & regularly used the fan. 

When we got back to the dealer, Steve talked to the head of sales & they very willingly swapped it out to the Max Fan.  While waiting, I noticed the microwaves in the floor models all had convection & air fry capabilities which I recalled we were supposed to have as well.  Steve checked with the service manager & confirmed the one installed in our camper did not have the air fry option. So again, they very willingly swapped this out for the correctly spec’d microwave.  Not exactly sure why we had a couple components that were not correct but we were grateful Oliver promptly took care of it. 

Once everything was swapped out, the guys installed the Anderson hitch on the truck. We were then able to hook up and pull it the few feet to the on-site Oliver campground.  This is a super nice feature to be able to test out your new camper. There were two other Oliver owners staying on-site, one had an older Oliver & the other was a new Oliver owner who picked up theirs the same day as we did. 

We got setup in the campground by 4:30PM. The only hiccup we had was when we opened the awnings for some reason they would immediately pull back in. I found the service manager & asked if he had any ideas. All the techs had already left for the day but he found someone that knew what our issue was. Since we hadn’t unplugged the truck yet, the camper won’t let you keep the awnings out as it thinks you are about to pull the camper down the road. Once unplugged, the awnings stayed out. I’m sure there will be more of those types of operator errors in our future.

We spent some time wiping down surfaces before unloading a few things from the truck. We will definitely have to do a much more thorough cleaning when we get home. We got the camper set up for our one night stay then made dinner.  I reheated pizza in the convection oven & pasta in the microwave. I didn’t have anything to airfare so will test that out when we get home. I also tested out the induction stove to make some tea. So far everything was in working order. 

After dinner, we spent some time talking to one of our campground neighbors who also picked up their new Oliver. The Oliver community is pretty nice, at least the folks we have met so far. Very similar to the Casita owners. These campers are pretty rare so it’s fun to meet fellow owners. 

First look!

First Dinner!

First Campsite!

First selfie with our new camper!

We scheduled to get the Oliver ceramic coated right away. So our plan was to leave Hohenwald by 6:30AM the next morning so we could get to CGI Detailing in Murfreesboro by 8AM provided we didn’t have any issues overnight. Due to the long & slightly stressful day we were in bed a bit earlier than our normal early time. I thought the night would be rough for a few reasons & was right. Between the new camper outgassing, the humidity, new beds & random LED’s shining in the night our sleep was less than optimum. Other than that, we didn’t have any issues that required us to wait for the techs so we were on the road to CGI by 6:30AM. Between traffic & construction it took us about 2 hours to get there. 

After a slight snafu of turning up the wrong driveway we made it to their shop around 8:30AM. They told us they expected to be done by late morning the next day but would give us a status update later in the day. Once unhooked, we left to grab breakfast at Joanie’s (great locally owned cafe) in downtown Murfreesboro then toured the Stone River Battlefield near our hotel. We stopped in the Visitor Center, got our stamps, watched the video, then went on the driving tour. We could have walked the two mile loop but choose to drive since Steve had a headache plus it was really hot.

Yes, that would be me, LOL

Stones River Visitor Center

One of the driving stops - 1862 / 1863 Civil War Battleground

National Cemetery

Our hotel room was ready shortly after noon. Once checked in, we relaxed for awhile before grabbing a late lunch at Cava for a slop bowl (meh, overpriced & really don’t see the draw). After lunch we walked around the area for a bit before heading back to the hotel. 

We got a text from CGI late afternoon saying they would be finishing up that evening & that we could pick up the camper the next morning around 8AM. We were very pleased with that since it meant we could get home by mid-afternoon. We didn’t do much else other than go to In-N-Out burger to try it out. We got a couple of cheeseburgers, fries & a chocolate shake. The shake was the big winner in my book. The cheeseburger was OK but the fries were meh at best. 

After a much better sleep, we were on the road to CGI by 8AM on Thursday to pick up our camper. The guys did a such a great job on it. The ceramic coat should last a couple years & keep the camper looking like brand new. We got hooked up & were on the road by 9:15AM. There was lots of traffic through Nashville but once we got close to Kentucky the traffic lightened up & the rest of the drive was good. We even managed to avoid rain on our way and arrived home around 3PM. 

First interstate rest area!

One of the big questions we had was whether or not we, and I really mean Steve, could back the new camper into our driveway since it is about 7 feet longer than the Casita. We have a single wide driveway and it's really like threading a needle to get it into our backyard. We got lucky as there was no cars parked on the road in front of our house & our neighbors, plus only one car pulled in while Steve was backing in the rig. Steve did great & was able to get the trailer into the driveway enough so he could use his portable trailer to move it in the rest of the way.  It took about 20 minutes to get it in place...not to bad for the first attempt! 

Threading the needle!

First night home!

Now time to air it out! We have a few days before we hit the road to Zilpo Campground at Cave Run lake for our first shake out trip.